


If I had another chance

by Its_all_in_your_imagination



Category: USWNT - Fandom
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-16
Updated: 2015-07-30
Packaged: 2018-04-09 14:17:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 12,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4352114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Its_all_in_your_imagination/pseuds/Its_all_in_your_imagination
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prep School AU</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Her phone read exactly 4:37 AM when she picked it up. She had been woken, somewhat rudely, by the muffled crying of her roommate. Ashlyn Harris was not one to meddle in other people's business so instead of pretending to act sincere she rolled over and tried to fall asleep. After all, the second day of soccer try-outs were going to start in 2 hours and 23 minutes and she ached all over from the first day. She was confused and overwhelmed by the amount of information that she had to take in in such little time. Between freshman orientation, a large campus, a new team, and now a crying roommate, Ashlyn wasn't convinced that she was cut out to play for a school as highly regarded as Northfield Mount Hermon. She also wasn't sure if she could handle the pretentiousness that seemed to drip from every surface of the school. From their cafeteria being called "Alumni Hall" to an entire set of dorms set off specifically for freshmen, which was known as "cottage row" to the faculty and "the freshman village" to the students,  Ashlyn couldn't help but feel out of place.  

As she faded slowly back into sleep, Ashlyn couldn't help but wonder what her roommate was crying about. She, also, was trying out for the soccer team, and she was also trying out to be starting goalkeeper. When Ashlyn had heard this the first time she had not been overly concerned about the competition. The problem was that this lack of concern had come out on the field. Ashlyn had arrived to try-outs on time, which was late in everyone else's eyes, and had not tried hard at all to prove herself on the first day. She had thought that the full scholarship had cemented her place onto the team when, in reality, it was something that could be taken away just as easily as that position. Her roommate should have been thrilled: she had worked harder and possibly even played better than the most talked about recruit in their year. However, it was obvious to Ashlyn, and would have been obvious to anyone else who entered the room, that Noel Greenberg was not thrilled. It was also obvious to Ashlyn that there was absolutely nothing she could do about it, at least not at the present time, so she ignored it and went back to sleep.

When Ashlyn finally woke up the next morning Noel was still asleep. Ashlyn walked over to her and shook her shoulder, trying to be as gentle as she could in waking her up; the last thing she wanted to do was make enemies of the one person she had to deal with the entire year. Noel shuddered and rolled over; her eyes heavy with the sleep she had not been able to get. Upon noticing that Ashlyn was standing directly above her she jumped and squirmed her way to the opposite side of her narrow bed. The reaction seemed a little odd to Ashlyn but she decided not to think about it and continue getting ready. After she came back from brushing her teeth and washing her face, Ashlyn threw on the training outfit that the school had left in her closet: a light blue shirt and black shorts, both neatly marked with NMH Soccer lettering. She stepped into her slides and stuffed her shin guards, cleats, and gloves into a matching NMH soccer bag and headed for the door.

"Thanks for waking me up." Ashlyn nearly jumped at the sound of her voice. In the past couple of days Noel had not said much beyond "hello," and "I'm doing well, how about you."

She had been halfway out the door when she had heard her roommate so she turned around and responded in an unusually quiet voice herself, still taken aback by the acknowledgement of her existence by Noel. "I'll see you in a bit," she muttered as she jogged towards Alumni for breakfast with the optimistic feeling that something new might not be so bad.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to all you guys who alreadly left kudos! That's totally awesome so kudos to you all for being awesome. I already have chapter 3 written but I'm going to draw it out a bit so that if I cant write one night at least I can still post something. I'll be at the Washington Spirit game this weekend against the Seattle Reign so basically I'll get to see Harris, Krieger, Rapinoe, and Solo which will be totally awesome. Enjoy!

Ashlyn was slightly more prepared for the second day of try-outs. She was not, however, prepared for an onslaught of running drills. After all, the skilled goalkeeper was used to doing sprints, not long distance suicides. But that's what Coach Ellis had in mind so that is what she had to do. Goal line to the 18 and back. Then to half field and back. To the opposite 18 and back. And then finally to the other end of the field... And back. The young goalkeeper was not out of shape: she had trained harder than she ever had that summer. Nonetheless, she was not in shape for this and by the end of the first suicide, which totals up to be five lengths of the field, she was exhausted. When Jill asked for the second one they all thought that she was bluffing.

As the team completed their second suicide with some of the obvious veterans in the lead as well as freshman Alex "baby horse" Morgan, a new face walked onto the field. Ashlyn recognized the face from the one time she had practiced with the team the year before but she could not remember the name that went along with it. She was stunning. At least Ashlyn thought she was. Any other player on the team would probably a argue that she was not actually that much better looking than anyone else on the team but for whatever reason Ashlyn could not take her eyes off her.

The veterans went over to her and began to ask her question after question. Ashlyn and the other new people to the team were still standing at the goal line catching their breath. Abby and Christie, their two captains, beckoned them to come over.

"This is Ali Krieger. We call her Kriegs or Warrior or even sometimes Warrior Princess but that's a bit of a mouthful to say in a game." The team chuckled while Abby took a second before she continued. "She injured her knee over the summer so she spent yesterday and the beginning of today's practice at the trainers hopefully getting cleared to play."

"Which she said I was. I have to wear this really large brace but if I get to keep playing then nothing else matters." She smiled as she looked over the new team, resting momentarily on Ashlyn. Ashlyn might have noticed if she had not been distracted by the sound of Ali's voice. It was higher than she had expected it to be and sincere, as if no lie could be spoken through those lips. Her eyes on the other hand told a different story. They were soft and understanding but they twinkled with a certain mischievousness that made Ashlyn's heart jump.

The team huddle was obviously over but Ashlyn had continued to stare. The only thing that reminded her where she was had been a light tap on her shoulder from Alex. "You might want to stop staring now," she whispered. Ashlyn lowered her head as blood rushed to her cheeks.

Coach Ellis called them all over and told Ashlyn, Noel, and the senior, Hope, to put on their gloves and hop into goal. "Finally," she thought to herself. Ashlyn honestly did not mind running, but she loved being in goal. Even a ball to the face was bound to take some of her stress from previous days away.

Ashlyn had realized yesterday that the girls on the team were really good. She had been scored on numerous times in places where she could hardly blame herself for letting them in. She had vowed to herself to do better than she had done the previous day. Hope had told her wisely not to worry about things that were out of her control and to focus only on how she herself could improve.

She watched Hope now, her moves perfectly calculated. Every save executed almost to perfection. Ashlyn knew it would be difficult for her to claim a starting spot this year but she knew she would work harder than anyone else to get there. As Ashlyn stepped in goal she focused only on what she had to do at that moment, forgetting about her first two days of classes, her crying roommate, and Ali Krieger. That is, she forgot about Ali up until the moment she took a ball to the chest directly off the boot of Warrior Princess herself.

It was the last shot she was going to face before she was supposed to let Noel get in goal. Instead of walking away from the goal feeling accomplished as she had expected to do she ended up on her hands and knees catching her breath. If she hadn't been distracted by the bug flying around her head it would have been a routine save. It was a lame excuse, but the bug was honestly distracting her.

Ali ran over and kneeled next to Ashlyn. "I am so sorry. Are you ok?"

"It's not your fault. And it's ok, just knocked the breath out of me," Ashlyn wheezed back.

"Well if it's not my fault we can always blame that bug that you were trying to swat away from your face." She said as she helped Ashlyn get outside the goal.

"Isn't it a little low for us to be blaming an unsuspecting bug?"

Ali laughed. It was a genuine laugh, not just something to make Ashlyn feel better. Her nose crinkled and her eyes twinkled again.

Ashlyn had finally managed to regain most of her breath as well as her composure. She pointed to the field to signify that they should probably go back to practice. The drill had changed and Christie and Abby were leading them through it. Ashlyn went to the net as Ali went to the line. Luckily for Ashlyn, the rest of practice went by without her getting knocked down. It went so well that she got a "good job, rookie" from Ellis who was normally very quiet. The team all walked over to Alumni together and together and put two tables together so that they could all sit at the same table. All in all, it had been a pretty good morning.


	3. Chapter 3

The first full week of school had gone by smoothly. Ashlyn had made the team along with Alex, Syd, Press, Tobin, two sophomores, one new junior, and a post graduate. Her roommate had been placed on JV. Noel had not said much on the matter but she seemed to be understanding of the decision. It would be better for her to lead the JV team and play a lot than to sit on the bench of the varsity team for the entire season. 

The team had gotten incredibly close in only that first week. The returning players had done an excellent job integrating the newer players. As their communication got more comfortable so did their passing and their game was more fluid than anything that Ashlyn had seen. They created chances: crosses to Abby's head or threading the ball through to Alex. Their first regular season game was Saturday so the team had decided to gather for a little celebration. They met in the lounge of Mackinnon cottage, one of the newest dorms on campus and home to over a third of the girls on the team. 

Coach Ellis was there and she had promised to provide entertainment. This turned out to be a recording of a professional soccer team game. Although most of the girls were hoping for something like Magic Mike or, if it had to be soccer related, She's the Man, none of them complained. They gathered around the television, watching the game out of their peripheries while playing cards against humanity and talking about soccer, boys, and anything that came to mind. 

Somewhere in the middle of the party Ashlyn drifted towards Ali, secretly hoping to get to know her. Now, they stood next to each other, silently watching the party from the outskirts of it. They could see Rapinoe win every round with the most ridiculous cards and then do an awkward dance to rub it in. The soccer game was 40 minutes in and the Washington Spirit were beating the Seattle Reign by one goal. Ashlyn found herself looking less at the party and more at the girl standing next to her, curious about what she was thinking.

It was Ali who finally broke the silence. "Do I have something on my face."

Ashlyn couldn't get her brain to work fast enough so she ended up saying "huh?" The expression on her face matched her inability to think and causes Ali to chuckle. 

"You've been staring at me for the past 20 minutes. I was just wondering why."

Ashlyn was about to say "because you're beautiful," but she held her tongue and tried to come up with a quick response. "Your eyeliner looks great I was just admiring it.

Ali looked at her and cocked her head to the side. "Ash, for the first time ever I'm not actually wearing eyeliner."

Ashlyn blushed immediately. "I guess that just shows how little I know about make up." 

"I guess I'll have to teach you a few things then. And if you ever need help with the whole make up situation just come to room 310 in Crossley. I am at your service." At this she winked at Ashley and bowed low. 

"Crossley. That's the really big one, right? What year are you anyway?"

Ali smiled at Ashlyn's naïveté about the campus. It reminded her of herself a year ago: a small confused freshman in a new school with different buildings for different subjects. "I'm a sophomore, I would have been a freshman but I skipped first grade. And yes, Crossley is the big one. The south side is the girl's side so I would stick to that side... Unless you have reason to be in the boy's dorm.

"Boys aren't really my type." Ashlyn surprised herself with that comment; she had not come out to anyone on the team. "I mean, I don't really have a boy in mind."

Ali smiled understandingly. She knew that Ashlyn was tentative about her sexuality. Ali herself had decided that she wouldn't label herself. She knew that if she fell in love with someone she wouldn't hold herself back because of their gender. She leaned in close and whispered in Ashlyn's ear: "don't worry, I won't tell anybody."

As Ali pulled back Ashlyn took her hand and squeezed it. "Thanks. That means a lot."

The party had begun to die down and the freshmen all had to return to their dorms. Ashlyn said goodbye to Ali while the rest of the freshmen thanked Christie and Abby for setting it up and then said good night to coach Ellis.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two chapters in one day? Yep, I'm just that awesome (I also realize that my chapters are super short so I figured you could do with another one).

It was almost halftime and Ashlyn was staring carefully at a blade of grass. More specifically she was staring carefully at the ant on that blade of grass. Press and Pinoe were on either side of her, eager to get put back into the game. Suddenly, the blade of grass that Ashlyn was focusing on darkened.

The person who caused the shadow was Nox, the assistant coach for the team. "You better not be sleeping or I'm going to have to tell Jill. 

Startled, Ashlyn looked up. "Not sleeping coach, just admiring an ant."

"As opposed to watching the game, huh." Nox lightly kicked Ashlyn in the foot, her way of saying "you're fine this time just don't do it again."

"Well, um, I watched a little bit."

"I hoped you watched enough to play in goal the second half." Ashlyn's face immediately brightened, she had not expected to play at all for the first couple of games. "Coach wants to see how you perform in a game. We're also testing out a two goalkeeper system; Hope plays first half and you play second. Put your gloves on and get warmed up with Syd."

Ashlyn didn't need to be told twice. She was immediately off the bench and putting on her gloves. Now she was wishing that she had payed attention to the game. They were winning, but only by one goal. Deerfield, their opponent, was doing a good job of maintaining control of the ball but they were unable to create many chances due to solid defending by the back line.

Hope had been perfect on the two total shots that she had faced, neither of them very difficult saves. Any goalkeeper would know that the reason she had only faced two shots was partially because of her communication with the back line. Just because Hope had not faced many shots did not mean that Ashlyn wouldn't get more. Hope knew the back line better, most of the defenders on the team were returning players except for Kling, a new Sophomore, and JJ, a new Junior. 

By the time the referee called them back on the field for the second half, Ashlyn was sufficiently warmed up. Hope hugged her and said "you've got this, Harris" which gave he just a little bit more motivation to prove that she deserved to play. 

The first thing she noticed when she stepped in goal was that the sun was in her face and there was no sign of it setting or being covered by clouds."Oh well, just one more thing to make this a little bit harder," she thought. The whistle blew for the start of the second half. Ashlyn was not facing a lot of shots but she knew that she had to be ready for anything. She watched the game and directed her defense. Just as she was starting to loose concentration she faced her first shot of the game. It was a low bullet that snuck past her defenders. The power was impressive but it went right to Ashlyn. All she had to do was front smother it and lay on top of the ball to kill some time. 

The second shot was a little more difficult. Deerfield crossed the ball towards the head of their tallest player. Ashlyn came out to punch it and succeeded in doing so, only to get knocked flat on her back by the Deerfield player. She got up and rubbed her tailbone thinking about how much it would hurt the next day. 

Finally, the last shot she faced, as the clock was in its final minute, was the most difficult. Top left corner. Ashlyn didn't think, she just leapt. The second she touched the ball she knew she had saved it. "If you touch it you have to save it," a coach had once told her. She tipped it past the bar for a corner kick. That corner kick was immediately cleared by Kling at which point the referee blew his whistle. 

Ashlyn had performed admirably. She had preserved the team's shut out as well as proved that she was just as good in a game as she was in practice, if not better. 

The team lined up to high-five the other team. They saluted the crowd and did a short warm up jog. Ellis complemented them on their performance, promising to talk about it in more detail on Monday. 

Nox spoke up next. "You guys are all invited to my house for dinner. Of course, if you would like to eat dining hall food, it is not required, but I'm a great cook so I would totally recommend coming." Good food after a good game, Ashlyn was really loving this new school and new team.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry I didn't post this last night, i got back pretty late from the washington spirit, seattle reign game. I got to see both Ashlyn Harris and Ali Krieger which was totally awesome.

Nox's dinner party had turned out to be really fun. She was definitely a good cook and the team had finally been able to watch "She's the Man." They all seemed to know all the words, and all of them aggressively acted out Channing Tatum's already aggressive phone answering methods.

Since then, the team had faced three other teams using the same dual goalkeeper method. With the combined efforts of Hope and Ashlyn the team had not let in a single goal. They hadn't expected to against Vermont academy or Kimball Union academy. Their last game had been the most difficult of the three. Andover had a solid team but both Hope and Ashlyn had played well enough to keep the balls out of the net.

Now Ashlyn was stuck in humanities, as the school liked to call it. Around the wall the four central questions stared at her trying to force her to think about them every second of the day. Ashlyn was currently trying to answer them all with soccer. "What does it mean to be human, Ashlyn?" They asked.

"To be human is to be a soccer player."  


"What is your place?"  


"Anywhere but here. A soccer field probably."  


"Who are you?"

"I'm Ashlyn Harris and I--"

"Ashlyn? Do you know the answer?" This was not one of the questions she had expected to answer. "where should the comma go in this sentence?"

Luckily for Ashlyn it was the English and not the history part of humanities. She actually had decent writing abilities. She looked at the board and answered the question only to get a warning from her teacher to pay attention.   


Tobin and Alex were on either side of her. They chuckled at how much her head was always in the clouds.  


The freshmen on the team had all gotten really close. After all they spent almost every second together besides when they were actually in class. Ashlyn and Tobin were closest. They had all three classes together and they also chose to study together. That meant that they spent more than 7 hours together every day.  


In the afternoons on weekends Alex, Syd, Tobin, Press, and Ashlyn would all play soccer in the little quad of the freshman village. Last weekend, some of the boy's varsity soccer players had joined them, each of them claiming a girl for themselves. Although the other four girls seemed perfectly ok with this, Ashlyn just felt uncomfortable.  


When Saturday evening rolled around Ashlyn excused herself from going out. "I just have to call my parents, tell them about our win against Exeter and our upcoming competition against Choate." This was a complete lie, Ashlyn had no intention of calling her parents, she just didn't want to have to endure the awkward flirting of another freshman boy.  


She ended up going to Crossley, making sure to enter through the south side and not the north side. Ali was the only person she knew who was not currently busy with some other endeavor. She wandered up to the third floor but couldn't remember Ali's room number so instead she walked to the lounge. Ashlyn got lucky: Ali was curled up on the couch reading a book. She didn't want to interrupt but she also did not want to spend the evening alone.   


"Hi Ali." Ali looked up from her book and smiled.  


"Hey, what's up?"  


"I was just bored. The other girls are all with their possible boyfriends so I didn't want to get involved in that. Could I join you."  


"You want to join me in reading my book. You must really be bored."  


"Well, I was hoping we could do something. I hear they're showing a movie in Blake. I would offer to take the shuttle to greenfield with you but I think the last one went out a minute ago."  


"I could definitely use a break from this book. Don't get me wrong, I love reading but I've been sitting here since dinner. Do you know what movie is playing?"  


"I think it's transformers, I'm not sure."  


"Hmm, I've seen transformers about a million times with my older brother, how about we go to my room and I get you started on the 100. Have you seen it?"  


"I heard it wasn't that good but you seem to like it enough to introduce me to it so why not/" Ali smiled and lead Ashlyn to her room. She had a single, which was pretty rare. She had decided to keep the extra bed in her room though and had bunked them to give her the extra space. The bottom bunk was obviously the one she used more; the sheets were tousled and her schoolbooks were strewn across it. Besides the bed though, her room was incredibly clean. Next to the head of her bed there was a bookcase completely filled with books. It created a cool, cave like setting if you were laying in the bed.  


"Um, I guess I should welcome you to my humble abode. My roommate quit school after the first week. Too much stress, I guess. You're welcome to sit on the bed...Or anywhere really. I just think the bed would be more comfortable."  


At this Ashlyn went over to the bed and sat down. She immediately started inspecting Ali's book collection. Many of them were titles that she had either read or was hoping to read. Books like catch-22, the Road, and Middlesex. "You have good taste in books, what were you just reading?"  


"The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon. I really like it." Ali sat down next to Ashlyn and grabbed her computer. "Let's get started then."   


The 100 was a lot better than Ashlyn had expected but that wasn't really on her mind. Halfway through the first episode Ali had snuck her arm behind Ashlyn's head. Ashlyn had definitely noticed, but had not reacted because she realized that the one thing that she didn't want to happen was for Ali to pull her hand away. As the show went on though Ashlyn found herself more and more attracted to Ali's body heat. She snuggled up to Ali and rested her head on her shoulder.  


This time it was Ali who was staring. She had noticed the subtle changes in Ashlyn's body language, taking it for a good sign. Ashlyn would occasionally look up and catch Ali staring but she went right back to watching the show, her way of telling Ali that she  


didn't mind being watched. 

As it approached ten thirty, Ashlyn realized that the last thing she wanted to do was leave. She knew she had to: NMH has a strict curfew policy that meant that all freshmen had to be in their dorms by ten thirty.   


Ashlyn sat up and looked at Ali. "I have to go," she said quietly.   


"I know. Let me walk you back to your dorm." Ashlyn smiled, this was not what she had intended to happen when she came over but she couldn't say that she wasn't glad it did. "Just let me get my shoes. Oh, you have my number right?"  


"I think so, I should have everybody on the team. Is it up on the board in the locker room?"  


"Um, I don't think so. Everyone else put them up the first day of tryouts, I wasn't there and I haven't gotten to it. Here, type in your number, I'll text you so that you can have mine." Ali handed Ashlyn her phone and watched her as she typed it in. When she got it back she stuck it into her pocket and grabbed Ashlyn's hand. "Let's make sure this freshman doesn't get in trouble for being out after curfew."

Ashlyn could feel all of Ali's energy pulsing through her fingers. And she focused on this feeling as they walked back together. When they reached the door to Ashlyn's door  Ashlyn leaned in and kissed Ali on the cheek. "Thanks for keeping me entertained tonight. Definitely better than awkward freshman boys."

Ali laughed, "your standards really are high. I feel totally honored to be better than an awkward freshman boy. And, if you're ever bored again, just text me."  


"Will do. Bye." Ashlyn pushed open the door and walked to the lounge. There she found Alex, Tobin, and Press. They were all looking at her with their arms crossed.  


Press was the first one to talk, "where have you been?"  


Tobin interjected next, "you look smitten, why do you look smitten."  


And lastly, Alex decided she should input as well. "I thought you were going to call your parents?"  


"I am not smitten! I just didn't want to spend the afternoon with Jason. He's like a babbling baby boy. After I called my parents, I went to go watch the movie in Blake."  


"If you don't want Jason I will totally take him, he's the most attractive out of all of them." That was Press, not even second guessing Ashlyn's story.  


"You went to go see transformers? I though you told me that you watched it a billion times?" Tobin was a little suspicious, mostly because last week she had wanted to watch it with Ashlyn but Ashlyn had told her that she had seen it too many times.  


"Yeah Tobs, sorry. I would have told you but you seemed a bit... Busy. Is the question session over? I have to go upstairs and sleep. Speaking of which, I was going to go to the gym tomorrow, do you want to join?"  


"Not particularly. Sundays are my sleep in days, you know that." Alex had said it but both Press and Tobin nodded in agreement.   


"Ok, I'll just go alone. I was going to swim anyway and I know how much you hate it. We have a bunch date for 11 like we always do, right?"  


"Yep, have fun swimming, we'll see you there." They all hugged her and said goodnight. Ashlyn ran up the stairs to her room. There she found Noel, laying in bed with her computer on her lap.  


"Hey, Noel, do you want to go swimming with me tomorrow morning?"  


Noel looked up from her computer. "Sure, what time?"   


"Wake up at 7? Is that ok with you?" Ashlyn asked as she began to get undressed.  


"Seven sounds cool. Brunch afterwards?"  


"Well I was going to eat with the girls but I'm sure you can join. Is that ok with you?"  


"Yeah, sure thing." Ashlyn nodded and put on a pair of boxers. She went to the bathroom to get ready for bed and then came back and turned off the light in her half of the room. Before she went to bed though, she checked her phone.  


  
_Hey, it's Ali_    


Ashlyn added the number to her phone and then quickly sent her a text asking her if she wanted to join their swimming party. Ali responded almost immediately.  


  
_Sorry Ash, I can't. I'm Skyping my parentsat 8:30. It's the only time they can do it. You'll be at brunch though right?_  


  
_Yeah I'll be there. Have fun with your parents. I'll see you at brunch. Night._  


Ashlyn set the alarm on her phone and set the phone down. She pulled the pillow under her head and fell asleep almost immediately.   



	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it has been a while. I've been pretty busy. Also sorry for any stupid spelling mistakes, I've been writing these on the bus to and from camp. I'm supposed to be watching the kids but whatever.
> 
> p.s. I am a fantastic counselor, aren't I?
> 
> Actually in regards to the story I want to remind people that even though this is based off of real people, it is a work of fiction. This is especially directed to anyone who may feel that I didn't represent Ali's mom in an accurate way. I didn't do any research on Ali's parents and I have never met them. They could be the exact opposites of the characters that I have written. If you do have insight on them and want to correct me on something, go ahead. Constructive criticism is great.

2000 meters and Ashlyn was sweating. At least she thought she was sweating, it really is hard to to tell in the water. As she performed another kick turn she saw Noel at the other end of the pool, catching her breath. They had gotten to the pool a little bit after 8:00 and had been there for a little bit more than an hour. Ashlyn was making good time, at least compared to her normal pace. When she reached the shallow end she stopped to get a drink of water and catch her breath for a second.

 "How do you do that?" Noel was staring at Ashlyn, obviously in awe of something.

 "Do what? Drink water?"

 "No, silly. How do you keep swimming. You just did 500 meters without stopping."

 "Well that was what I was trying to do. I don't know how i did it, I guess I just made sure to stay focused. There's no point in setting s goal if halfway through you realize you have no intention of making it. You're supposed to set your goal so that it is as close to what you think is your limit as possible. Then you do everything you can to reach your goal and, if you can, do better than your goal. My goal was to get 2000 meters in this morning and break it up into four segments. I think I'm going to see if I can do another 500 and then call it a day. You should try too."

 "Ok, I'll try but I won't promise finishing anything."

 "It doesn't affect me if you don't finish, you're just cheating yourself if you don't do as much as you can."

 "We'll see how I do Ash, then we can decide if I'm cheating myself or not." Noel dunked her head in the water and pushed off the wall. Ashlyn followed her. Her muscles and her lungs were burning, her heart rate was accelerated but it was everything that made Ashlyn feel better. She knew that Hope was not in the pool doing what she was doing. Every extra step she took was one step closer to earning that starting position.

 When she finally finished the last round of 500 Noel was still going. Ashlyn got out of the pool and wrapped a towel around herself. She pulled out her phone and debated texting Ali. Worried that she would interrupt the phone call, Ashlyn decided to call her own parents instead. 

 "Hi baby girl, how are you doing?" Ashlyn hadn't realized until now how much she missed her mother's voice. 

 "Hi mom, I just got out of the pool. I'm doing great. The soccer team is amazing and we've all bonded super well. How about you? How's work?"

 "I'm glad to hear you're having fun. Work is fine. I miss you like crazy but it keeps me busy enough to keep my mind off of you. Have you spoken to your father recently?"

 "No, I haven't. Is he there?" Ashlyn got really excited at the thought of being able to talk to her father.

 "No, he's out right now. You can try calling tonight but he might have s business meeting that he has to be a part of. Just call home and I'll hand him over to you if he's available."

 Noel got out of the pool and came to sit next to Ashlyn. "Ok mom, that sounds like a plan. I have to go now. I love you, bye."

 "Bye, princess. Love you too." Ashlyn hung up the phone and looked at Noel. 

 "You kept going, I'm proud of you."

"Thanks. I just set a goal and made sure to pursue it. I'm starving though, we should go to breakfast."

"We have an hour before brunch but we really should eat something. I have an idea.lets just take a quick shower and then you can follow me. 

 They both headed off to the locker room and showered. Once they were done Ashlyn lead the way to the dining hall. "I thought you said weren't eating," Noel called from behind her.

 "I said we weren't eating brunch. We still need to eat something. Go grab yourself a banana. I need to get some other things. Meet me back at the door when you're ready. Oh, grab me one too please."

 Noel went off to grab the bananas and then stood by the door. When Ashlyn came back she had two bowls with her. One was filled with yogurt and the other with some sort of mixture. "You're not allergic to anything were you?"

 "No. What's in that bowl anyway?"

 "That's my secret to keep and yours to enjoy. I just need a blender now. I think we have one in the dorm." Ashlyn and Noel walked back to the dorm, doing their best to keep the bowls they had taken out of anyone's sight. When they got to the blender Ashlyn asked Noel to peel the bananas and then to throw them in the blender. Ashlyn turned it on high for about a minute and then poured half of the mixture into a cup. "Noel Greenberg, I present you with a delicious smoothie."

 They sat in the lounge of the dorm just talking and drinking their smoothies. It occurred to Ashlyn that in the entire first month of the school year, she and Noel had not had one conversation that lasted more than a minute. She was learning more and more about Noel. The first thing she learned was that Noel's family traveled a lot. Her dad had a government job which had forced them to relocate every four years. Because of that, she had never gotten solid soccer training. However, she had absolutely adored the sport since a young age, never giving up on her dreams to play in college. 

 At 11 they met up with Alex, Syd, Tobin, and Press and went up to the dining hall to see who else on the team had showed up. Ali was already there, she was siting next to Rapinoe and Lauren. When she noticed that Ashlyn had come in the dining hall she smiled and waved, beckoning for her to come over and sit across from her. 

 After they ate lunch with the team Ashlyn told them all that she was heading to her room to do homework. It was Sunday afternoon after all and she had promised her parents that she would do everything she could to maintain good grades. She spent almost four hours on her homework making sure that she annotated her reading and checked her math for mistakes. To kill some more time she watched some of the 100. Texting Ali from time to time to comment on what I was happening in the story. Ali, however, was not responding to any of the texts. 

 She decided to call her dad and talk to him for a bit. Her mom answered the phone saying that her dad was, regrettably, in a meeting. Ashlyn understood the importance of her dads job. It had kept food on the table and allowed her to play soccer for the past 14 years of her life. It still annoyed her that every time she called, her dad seemed to be either in a meeting or at work. He also never bothered to call back.

 When she hung up the phone after telling her mom to tell her dad that she loved him she saw that she had recovered a couple of texts from Ali. 

  _Hey Ash, sorry I didn't respond I've been immersed in my book. Do you want to go to dinner with me? We can talk about the show together._  


  
_Yeah, sure thing. What time are you heading to alumni?_  


  
_In about ten minutes, if you get there before me then choose one of the smaller round tables in the middle._  


  
_Ok, see you in ten._  


  
Ashlyn went to the bathroom to make herself look a little bit more presentable. She tied up her hair and changed from her flannel pants to a pair of jeans. She grabbed her keycard and walked over to alumni. 

 When she got there she couldn't find Ashlyn so she went to the center of the dining hall to find an open round table. Much like any dining hall, alumni had a seating system predetermined by social norms that had been held true for years. The freshman side was the south side. They shared that side with mostly the Asian groups at the school which was surprisingly a large percentage of the student body. The middle of the dining hall was somehow the most secluded of the tree divisions. It has only round tables, unlike the rest of the dining hall which had rectangular tables. These tables were known to hold the teachers, the art kids, the "geeks," and the out members of the lgbt community. The far side was the biggest and held the rest of the student bodies. Some teams like the hockey team and the girls varsity soccer team had tables that they always sat at together and were therefore generally avoided by everybody else, especially when it was their season.

 Ashlyn didn't really approve of this seating method. It kept the students separated and didn't allow them to meet new people. It also made Ashlyn feel a little self conscious when she sat down at one of the round tables. She didn't want to get up and get food until Ali was there so she sat there biting her nails. 

 Just as Ashlyn was getting a little worried that Ali wasn't coming she saw her burst into the dining hall. It seemed as though she had been running and her normally soft eyes were now looking wild.

 "Hey", she said breathless.

 "Hi, we're you running?"

 "Yeah, I'm late cause I ran into someone."

 "You ran into someone? Are they ok?"

 "I didn't literally run into someone. I mean I saw someone I used to know."

 "You saw someone you used to know. Ok. Who?"

 "My ex-girlfriend. She transferred to another school when she thought that people were finding out about her sexuality."

 "Oh, ok." Ashlyn suddenly wished she hadn't asked. At least it was clear now that Ali was willing to date a girl but Ashlyn was furiously jealous of this unknown ex. "Let's go get something to eat."

 Ali and Ashlyn walked up to the buffet line. NMH had better food than any other school in New England but even then it got repetitive. There are only so many meals that can be cooked for a large mass of people. Ali sat down and waited for Ashlyn to return. "So you like the show."

 "You can say I told you so if you really must. It is actually a really good show. Clarke is a total bad-ass."

 "Yes she is. And although I love talking about the show I would recommend that we stop because I will accidentally give something away." Ali discreetly slipped her hand into Ashlyn's. 

 "Ok then. What do you want to talk about?" Ashlyn really didn't care what the topic was as long as she got to be with Ali. 

 "How's your year going? Freshman year can either be really tough or really fun."

 "Can it be both? Cause I'm having an amazing time with the team and my classmates and everything but classes are harder than anything I've experienced before."

 "I guess it can be both." Ali's phone decided to take that exact moment to start ringing. Ali ripped her hand away from Ashlyn's to answer it, leaving no Ashlyn hanging there. "It's my mom. I have to go outside. Wait for me, ok?" Ashlyn smiled her response. The school had a rule that said that you couldn't call anyone while you were in the dining hall. You could text, but talking to someone on the phone was considered rude. 

 Ashlyn sat, staring at her empty plate. When Ali came back her face was flushed and she looked like she was about to break down in tears. Ashlyn grabbed her plate and Ali's in one hand and grabbed Ali's in the other. "Come with me."

 Ali kept her head down, not wanting anyone to see tears that Ashlyn thought were impossible. Ashlyn pulled her to her room. When she got there she hugged Ali tightly. Ali just broke down in her arms. They stayed like that until Ali calmed down, at which point Ashlyn sat her down on her bed. She didn't say anything, not wanting to upset Ali further.

 "My dad is sick. But that's not why... That's not why this happened. The ex I told you about--when we broke up she called my mom and outed me to her. My mom didn't believe her but she asked me for confirmation. I couldn't lie so I told her that I had indeed been dating a girl. My mom didn't take it well. She was convinced it was just s phase and she signed me up for therapy at the school. My dad never showed any feelings about it, positive or negative. I took it as a good sign, at least he wasn't pulling me out of school, which is what I think my mom wanted to do. Now my mom is blaming me for my dads sickness, saying that if I hadn't been dating a girl it wouldn't have happened. She says that if she catches even a word of me with another girl she will pull me out of this school and make sure my soccer career is over."

 Ashlyn was silent for a minute taking it all in. She carefully pulled her hand out of Ali's. "If whatever it is that we're doing can't happen, I would understand."

 "That's the last thing I want, but right now I need time. If my dad gets better then there is absolutely no reason why it couldn't happen. I could talk to him, seriously, about his feelings about me dating a girl."

 "Ali, I don't want you to do anything you don't want to do, especially if you're doing it for me. This could ruin your relationship with your dad. It would basically leave you without parents that you can talk to."

 "Thanks for the vote of encouragement, Ash. But I want to do it, for myself. If he's fine with it then maybe he can talk some sense into my mother. You've been amazing and I'll need the support, just in a more platonic way. For now."

 "I will totally respect that. You should get back to Crossley, it's almost study hall."

 Ali left, leaving Ashlyn feeling sorry for herself. She was ok with waiting for Ali, she just didn't know how long she would have to wait. 


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Once again, sorry about any spelling errors. iPads are not the easiest things to type on. If you feel like pointing them out to me please do so kindly in the comment section.

There they were, Choate Rosemary Hall. This was going to be their hardest game of the regular season. They were jogging around the field, getting warm despite the crisp fall air. Once they completed the lap, Ashlyn and Hope separated from the rest of the team to warm each other up. They only had a couple of minutes before the rest of the team would join to take shots on them. 

Hope was normally incredibly silent during these warm up sessions. In fact, Hope's game routine seemed to be to sulk for an hour before the game. So when she spoke up Ashlyn almost missed what she said. "You know that it's going to be hard work if you date Ali. She's a great person, but she has baggage."

"Uh... I'm not dating Ali."

"I'm just saying, if you do, you're going to have to support her."

"Ok, I'll keep that in mind." Ashlyn wondered if their two day period of being a little extra friendly to each other had been noticed by anyone else. She didn't mind, it was an easy way to out yourself. For some reason saying "I have a girlfriend" is so much easier than saying "I'm a lesbian." People just noticed, if they didn't like it they spoke up, if they didn't care they didn't say anything.

The rest of the team had started walking over to take shots on them. Hope took most of them, because she was starting, and then allowed Ashlyn to take a few. The ref blew his whistle to signify the 1 minute mark and they all huddled up around Abby and Christie. "Up, up, big red on three." Abby and Christie looked at each other and counted "one, two, three," as loud as they could. The rest of the team did the cheer and then went to their respective places either on the bench or on the field. 

Choate was starting with the ball. The whistle blew and three passes, a shot, and then a save from Hope later and Choate already had a corner kick. This was going to be a difficult game. Ali cleared the ball up to Pinoe who passed it to Alex. A player came in and pressured her and her attempt to pass the ball to Abby was intercepted. Hope was in the back trying to calm down the players. Slow the game down and get control of the ball.

Choate managed to get a second shot off but it was right at Hope and she collected it comfortably. She bounced the ball a bit and gave her girls some time to get upfield. She dropped the ball to her feet and passed it up the side to Boxxie. Again, she told her players to slow it down a bit. Keep control of the ball and work your way up the field. After a couple of passes between the defenders Kling spotted Carli wide open in the middle. Carli settled the ball and looked up field. She chipped the defenders, sending a ball down the middle of the field for Alex. Alex outran her opponents so that she was on a breakaway. The keeper came out and Alex took a shot. The ball trickled past the far side of the post. 

The game continued like this. Back and forth chances. In the 26th minute Choate shot the ball low and hard to the corner of the goal ending Hope and Ashlyn's impressive 6 game shutout streak. Then again in the 39th minute. Cross from the flank right to the foot of their best player. She was two feet out and was never going to miss from there. 

This was new. The girls had not let up a goal their entire season so far and now they were down two. When the whistle blew for the end of the first half they walked off the field, obviously frustrated. Abby was talking some sense into them when Nox came over and tapped Ashlyn on the shoulder. 

"If you keep us in this game you may have a case for starting goalie." Ashlyn hadn't expected this, Hope had played well, she had made several saves. "You know what to do," Nox said. 

The second half started and immediately NMH passed it to Carli who took a shot on goal. It hit the post and bounced into the netting on the far side of the goal. 2-1. This game could still be won. 

Choate immediately responded. Forcing Ashlyn to make a save and earning a corner kick. Ashlyn punched it out and immediately started commanding her defense. "White push up, PUSH UP!" The ball was coming back on the flank. "Christie press! Kling drop back and cover her!" The Choate player slipped past Christie but thanks to Ashlyn's command Kling was right there to back her up. She side stepped and passed the ball back up to Christie who moved it forwards for O'Hara. O'Hara lobbed it towards Abby who was running towards the middle of the box. Abby headed it towards goal and it sneaked passed the keeper.

Goal! The game was tied, or so they thought. On the far side the ref had her flag up for offsides. They stopped celebrating, bummed that they had not scored. Ashlyn was trying to get them to focus. "Listen to me. We can do it again! Keep moving around the ball!" She really hoped that this would be enough to invigorate her team enough to keep trying. 

A couple minutes later they got a corner kick. The ball soared up to Abby's head who put it in a second time. This time the whistle blew immediately. Sydney had fouled her defender when trying to go up for the ball herself. The team was visibly frustrated. Especially Abby who had scored two goals that had been disallowed. 

Everything they tried seemed to be illegal or not good enough. They tried everything and a couldn't finish. Alex hit the inside of the crossbar and bounced down across the line and back out. Everyone on the team could have sworn that it had gone in and bounced out but Choate just played the ball and the ref didn't blow his whistle. When he did blow his whistle two minutes later it was to signify the end of the game. 

Ashlyn had done what she needed to, but she did not feel that way. Both her and the rest of the team were furious. Although he was just doing the best he could, the ref had called so many things against them that they thought they had been cheated of a tying goal, at least.

No one said a word when they got on the bus for the long ride back to school. They were sharing the coach bus with junior varsity, who had, out of respect taken the front of the bus. The varsity team was known for crowding in the back, playing music, and talking loudly. The JV team recognized their lack of energy, at least positive energy, immediately and they also went quiet, the only sound on the bus was the occasional loud breath or the bass of someone who listened not music on their headphones way too loud.

Honestly, they hadn't necessarily expected to win, they knew it would be difficult game, but none of them had gone into the game with loss as an acceptable option. All of them were blaming themselves for errors that had not been solely their fault. Ashlyn hadn't even noticed that Ali was sitting next to her until she felt her head on her shoulder. It startled her but she didn't move it, not wanting to wake her. Ashlyn felt that she could do with some human contact anyway.

When they made it back to school, Ashlyn shook Ali's shoulder gently. Ali didn't seem to realize that she had fallen asleep on Ashlyn's shoulder and apologized profusely when she woke up. "Honestly, Ali, I don't mind. I would do it for any of the girls on the team. You guys are my friends, I'm willing to lend a shoulder to lean on, literally."

"Thanks, Ash. You're a good friend." Although Ashlyn knew that friends was all they could be for now, it stung her when Ali said it. She so desperately wanted to be something more. 

Ashlyn checked her watch, not knowing what time they had returned to campus. It read four pm. Plenty of time for her to take a shower and find something to do in the afternoon. 

Dinner was the logical place to go after her shower but the last thing she wanted to do was to sit with the team who were all sulking in the corner. Ashlyn was frustrated about the outcome of the game as well but as a goalkeeper she was used to getting over it quickly. You can't linger on any goal that is scored in the game. If you think about it too much it affects how you play. 

She wandered around the dining hall, eager to find a place to sit. She didn't really want to sit with a group of freshmen that she didn't know so she wandered to the middle of the dining hall where she had sat with Ali right before the phone call with her mom that ended whatever they had had. She was about to sit down at an empty table when she heard her name. "You're Ashlyn right?" The voice came from one of the freshmen in her dorm who she and not payed attention to. Ashlyn hadn't actually payed much attention to anyone who wasn't on the team. 

"Yeah, I'm Ashlyn."

"Well, I'm Erica. Do you want to join us. We don't usually bite. You just look like you could sit with someone right now." Ashlyn surveyed the table. She recognized a few of the people sitting there, most of them sophomores. She picked up her plate and moved it to the empty place at the table. She felt like she didn't belong and she kept her head down and focused on her food.

"You ok, trooper? I heard you guys lost a game you shoulda won." Erica nudged her. "Colton, my boyfriend, plays ultimate and he always sulks after he looses a game, no matter how many times I try to convince him that it it's not his fault if they loose." Upon hearing his name, the boy sitting next to Erica had turned around and listened in. 

"Erica, sometimes it is my fault."

"Cole, it's never only your fault. There are six other people on the team as well as another ten plus subs." Erica turned to look at Ashlyn. "Same goes for you."

Ashlyn had been listening but since she wasn't bummed about the game she was hoping Erica would stop going on about it. It was nice of her to make it seem like she cared but it really wasn't helping Ashlyn. The other people at the table were talking about a video game or something. The more Ashlyn got into it the more she started to enjoy their company. She ended up staying with them for over an hour, listening to their stories as well as a multitude of puns. Some of them were horrible, others incredibly clever. As she was getting up to leave Erica stopped her and asked her if she wanted to join them for movie night. 

"Movie night? What is that?"

"Well every Saturday one of us chooses a new movie to watch. I think it's fish's turn this week."

"Fish? Who is fish?" Ashlyn was honestly curious to find out if one of them was actually named fish. 

"Oh, right. Fish is Michele, the short person who looks like a hockey player." 

"Does she play hockey or does she just look like she plays hockey."

"I play hockey. My nickname comes from my helmet. I have a fishbowl which means--"

"I know what a fishbowl is. I play hockey as well."

"That means that we probably have more hockey players from Florida than any other school in Massachusetts. There are two other girls on the team who are from Florida. Oh and one of them has a brother who also plays. Anyway, I was planning on showing the gang Miracle, have you seen it?"

"Yeah I've seen the best sports movie ever created.  Where are you guys watching it?"

"At Cole's house, he's a faculty brat. Just follow us, we're going there now."

Ashlyn was excited by the prospect of new friends, especially non-soccer related friends. Sometimes a break was necessary. They were all incredibly nice as well. Cole welcomed me into his house without a second thought. He wasn't just a faculty brat, he was the assistant head of school's kid. When Ashlyn saw him she froze, not expecting to see him outside of a school setting. 

"Hi Ashlyn, I'm Charlie, although you probably already knew that. Congrats on your season so far, you've been doing great and that was a tough loss to Choate but you'll get it back when it matters." Then he turned to everyone else. "I'm ordering pizza, you guys can grab a drink from the fridge."

They all seemed incredibly comfortable in Cole's house and they acted like it was their own. Another thing she noticed immediately was that, besides her and another girl, everybody was coupled up. The other girl who was alone whispered in her ear that they might want to sit close. "Those guys don't seem to realize how awkward too much PDA can be." So they took the couch closest to the television. The girl, who she learned was Nikki, grabbed the remote and turned the volume super high. 

Halfway through the movie they stopped watching, in courtesy of Ashlyn who was the only freshman non day student. They knew that she had to leave earlier than everybody else. They had a bite of pizza and talked about other movies and TV Shows. Some of them Ashlyn recognized, others, they promised, she would see soon. It made Ashlyn happy to know that she was being invited back. She walked back to the dorm and texted Ali telling her about her night. She responded quickly.

_You spent the evening with cole's friends? I bet you didn't know that most of those guys are really close friends of mine. I sit at that table all the time. It's really funny because they try to pile in 12 people at a five or six person table. It gets really crowded and loud but everyone's included and I love that about them._

_Yeah, I noticed that tonight. I'm going to bed now, that Choate game emptied my tank. Good night._

_Good night, love you._


	8. Chapter 8

Throughout the rest of the regular season Ashlyn lied to herself: she was definitely not crushing hard on Ali Krieger. But of course she was. She couldn't think about much else except for Ali and soccer which was starting to become a problem in her classes. She daydreamed a lot and her teachers were noticing. However she had made it through the first half of that semester with better grades than she had a ever gotten before, showing that she was definitely applying herself.

She was also training harder than ever before. She didn't have any off days. While the rest of the team spent Sunday relaxing, Ashlyn went swimming or running or she lifted weights. Her back, stomach, and arms were getting more defined. And, for the games where there were no scouts, she was now starting. Beating out Hope for the position that she had had for the last four years. 

Now they were on the bus headed to the first game in the New England Preparatory School Soccer Championships, also known as New England's. They were the second seeded team in the league. Choate had gone completely undefeated while they had only lost the game to Choate. Although New England's also involved teams that they didn't play during the regular season. Both Choate and NMH were certain that they would see each other in the finals. 

Their first game was against Deerfield. Because of Deerfield's proximity to NMH, they had played each other three times during the regular season with NMH winning by more each time. They weren't going to pass them off though. It was of course possible that Deerfield would bring their absolute best game and beat NMH if they did not try hard enough.

Ali was sitting next to Ashlyn. She had attributed their growing friendship to similar friends outside of soccer. Ashlyn knew that, at least on her side, it was something else. Even though Ashlyn had hooked up with a couple of girls that season, they had all been experimenting and Ashlyn had just been using them to try and get over Ali. Obviously, it hadn't worked. 

Ashlyn was starting this game because Hope had committed to the University of Washington. There were scouts there, but since Ashlyn was a freshman none of them could actually come and talk to her. So, besides the fact that it was the playoffs, it was a generally low-stakes game for both goalkeepers. And, even if it had been high-stakes, Ashlyn wouldn't have been too nervous. By the end of the first half her team had maintained a defensive shutout, leaving Ashlyn totally bored in goal. 

When she sat down on the bench for the second half Ali sat next to her. "I think you should come with me to indoor try-outs. FC Massachusetts runs out of UMass Amherst which isn't too far from here. We could use a better goalie, Hope deserted us for Pioneer SC." Ali had mentioned FC Mass before and Ashlyn had just brushed off the idea. She was probably going to be playing varsity hockey so she wouldn't have much time. 

"You know that it won't work with my hockey schedule." 

"I looked up the schedule. It should work. It's late Tuesday and Thursday nights and games on Sundays. It works."

"Ali, I have homework. How am I supposed to get that done?"

"Coffee and less sleep, oh, and less procrastination. It will work out, I promise."

"And leave me super stressed. But I'll think about it."

"I guess that's the best I'm going to get." Ali heard Nox calling her name. "I have to go but we're not done here."

Ashlyn really did want to play indoor. She needed to keep playing in the offseason but she was going to be incredibly busy with hockey. She also didn't think that she could afford it. FC Mass was a fairly expensive club, she would need to be recruited and she didn't even know if they did that. She hadn't mentioned it to Ali. At preparatory school it was rare for you to come from a low income family and it changed everyone's perspective of you. She had decided to keep her financial situation completely to herself.

The game ended with NMH winning by a lot. It was almost cruel to win by 10 goals in a playoff game. Their next challenge would be Andover: definitely possible but also definitely more difficult. As they climbed onto the bust Ali squeezed her hand and whispered "I have something to tell you."

Ashlyn thought nothing about it, the handholding had become a normal thing and Ali often had stuff to tell her. 

"As you know, my dad got released last week. He has managed to convince my mom to go to a GLAAD meeting or something like it. This means that my mom is at least open to hearing the other side of the argument."

"Ali, that's amazing! You and your brother can reconnect with your mom. And I... Never mind. This is so cool. You have to tell me what your dad says afterwards."

"Well my dad is going to call tonight so how about you spend the evening with me."

"I would love to."

When Ashlyn arrived that evening Ali had obviously been thinking about what they should do together. "I thought we could order Chinese and watch a movie. I'm feeling 'Legally Blonde' for the night, is that ok with you."

"That movie will forever and always be ok with me. Do you have the menu for the Chinese place."

"Yeah, here." Ali handed Ashlyn her phone and watched her as Ashlyn scrolled through the seemingly endless options. Ashlyn looked up to tell Ali what she wanted and returned the phone. 

When the food arrived, they sat down in the lounge and ate until they could not anymore. Laughing at each other's "food babies" they walked to Ali's room. "Let me get into something more comfortable," Ali said while gesturing Ashlyn to sit down. Ashlyn could not stop staring at Ali and she kept staring while Ali took of her shirt.

"How do you have both a food baby and abs. Is that even possible?" 

Ali laughed, "I'm sure you have abs too Ash."

"Not after all that food I don't. Uh, Ali, your phone's ringing."

Ali suddenly turned serious. When she picked up the phone all she said was "hi daddy" in an voice that was very different from anything Ashlyn had heard. Usually she was so full of joy but she had turned somber immediately. She also didn't say much. All of her answers were succinct, "yes, no, maybe." 

Her mood didn't change after she hung up and Ashlyn was worried about what might have happened during the phone call. 

Ali, on the other hand, had no more questions about what she had to do. She walked right over to Ashlyn and kissed her.

Ashlyn was so surprised by the kiss that she was completely stiff. The moment she realized what was happening she softened and sat up, pulling Ali as close to her as she could. Ali pulled back to read Ashlyn's reaction. "I've been waiting for this for so long," Ashlyn whispered.

"I know, it only made me like you more." Ali pulled Ashlyn close to her and kissed her again. Ashlyn put her hands on Ali's still-bare waist while Ali put her arms around Ashlyn's neck. "Let's watch that movie."

Ashlyn nodded but didn't let go of Ali's waist. She was afraid that if she let go she would loose her. 

"Ash you're going to have to let me put on a shirt."

"Am I? I quite like you this way."

Ali rolled her eyes and put on a random shirt from her drawer. They sat down on the bed and Ashlyn immediately put her arms around Ali. They stayed like that for the whole movie, with Ashlyn staring at Ali while she watched the movie. Ali kept on trying to convince Ashlyn that the movie was definitely more interesting than her face but Ashlyn couldn't be convinced. She watched Ali's every reaction, paying attention to the way her nose crinkled when she laughed or the face she made when she called Warner a stupid jerkface.

The credits started rolling around 10, leaving Ashlyn painfully aware of the fact that they only had thirty more minutes together. She grabbed the laptop and put it on the ground. They sat up facing each other with their legs around each other's waists. Not saying anything, just watching each other. 

"How long?" Ali asked, recalling the conversation the had had earlier.

Ashlyn's brow furrowed in confusion. "How long what."

"You said you've been waiting for this for a long time. How long?" Ali repeated.

"The second day of tryouts. The moment after your ball hit me in the chest. You came over and blamed it on a bug. I made you laugh and all I've ever wanted to do since is to be the one who makes you laugh, who makes you happy."

"And then my dad happened."

"And then your dad happened. I knew I had to give you the space you needed. This is the best way for you to get on to the national team some day. I wouldn't be able to stand it if someone threatened to take away this education and this team away from me. It's my only chance."

"Only chance for what?"

"College. I won't be able to afford it unless I get a full ride. I've already been looking at scholarship essays and our family has been using the little money we have to send me to recruitment camps. I need to get my name out there."

"I didn't realize." Ali squeezed her hand.

"You didn't realize that my family didn't come from money. I didn't really want anyone to know. I love this place but one thing that most people have in common is that they have the funds to be here on their own money. I only got in here because I'm a two season varsity athlete. I probably wouldn't have ended up here on soccer alone. 

"You could have. You're an amazing goalkeeper, and a great addition to the team."

"Am I worth as much as college? Because that's how much this school costs. Hell, I'm probably worth more than some pro soccer players. 50 grand for just two seasons is not bad."

Ali noticed that Ashlyn was being uncharacteristically cynical. She was making jokes but they had a darkness behind them. So Ali laughed to go along with it, but she could see that Ashlyn was flustered. She couldn't imagine being around people with so much money than her all the time. During the day you could see it in the boy's timberlands and the girl's leather backpacks. In class there was an abundance of Mac computers as well as at least one iPhone for every student, most of them the newest models. 

Ali didn't know that Ashlyn had received a Mac from the school. On top of that, she had not had to pay for her extra training kits while the rest of the team had only gotten the first one free. The school knew what she was worth, and they made sure she could tell. They didn't just want her, they practically needed her.

"I have to go." Ashlyn leaned in and kissed Ali goodnight. Her cheeks were red and her heart was beating fast. When she got back to the dorm she just signed in and went to bed immediately but she couldn't sleep. 

Ashlyn kept on replaying the night over and over in hear head. Not ready to let it go and drift into sleep. She realized that she had never got the chance to ask Ali what her father had said on the phone but she also felt like she had gotten her answer. And it had been one hell of an answer. 

Ashlyn finally fell asleep, the taste and feeling of Ali still on her lips.

**Author's Note:**

> I know that there wasn't actually any Krashlyn action in this chapter. In fact they didn't meet each other at all but I promise you that it will come. I'm hoping to write this fic more like a story than some of the ones that I've read. You could see the beginning of this with the development of Noel. Anyway, I will see if I can add a chapter every night but I'm not sure that I will have enough time to do so. Ali will definitely be in the next chapter I can swear by that. Thanks a ton for reading it.


End file.
